


And If We Go, We Go Together

by lilolilyrae



Series: Life's Essence [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, First Kiss, First Time, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon, Temporary Character Death, andromaquynh, andromaquynh secret santa, lykon - Freeform, minor characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28317327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilolilyrae/pseuds/lilolilyrae
Summary: Long ago, so long ago in fact that even the eldest of the immortals, the one who had lived through it all, barely remembers it anymore, the world was a different place, and so were the people in it - mortals and immortals alike.Creatures that are now myths, legends and fairy-tales, had not existed yet- or had they?A slightly different Vampire AU!
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: Life's Essence [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073885
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33
Collections: Andromaquynh Secret Santa 2020





	And If We Go, We Go Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlessandraMortt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlessandraMortt/gifts), [Miss_Nixy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Nixy/gifts), [ahana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahana/gifts).



> For tumblr user @[theres-a-tv-joe](https://theres-a-tv-joe.tumblr.com/) for @[thirst-teenth](https://thirst-teenth.tumblr.com/)'s Andromaquynh Gift Exchange!
> 
> thanks for the beta, [ahana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahana)!

_AQAQAQAQAQ_ PROLOGUE _AQAQAQAQAQ_

Long ago, so long ago in fact that even the eldest of the immortals, the one who had lived through it all, barely remembers it anymore, the world was a different place, and so were the people in it - mortals and immortals alike.

Because yes, there was more than one immortal even then.

Andromache the Scythian doesn't remember their faces or names, but she remembers that there had been at least six others apart from herself- some who were nomads like her, and two others who had been _together_.

These days, Andromache wasn't yet the person she is now, and she never did understand the couple's decision to stay together then, nor did she feel the urge to spend her time at the side of the other immortals. They would all come together when they dreamt of another one, as it had always been, and prove that they had still all survived, or they would meet by pure chance when fighting in the same conflicts. That was all she ever needed to know about them.

At the time, she didn't yet see the advantages, both logistically and emotionally, to having a family of trusted individuals. Perhaps it wouldn't yet have had that effect for her then, anyway. She was by no means lonely, or even alone most of the time- mortals were to be found everywhere if one knew where to look, and Andromache revelled in their company, their admiration of her skills in combat, as she was admired wherever she went whether she revealed her particular talent for cheating death or not.

Cheating death...

Back in those times, people weren't so quick to either believe in one all-knowing god or to not believe in the supernatural at all. Andromache, who had not yet been known by that name then, never really dared to believe in a god or a goddess, but she always questioned the ways the world works in general. They were immortal- but how? Why? How long, what did it all mean?

Not forever, perhaps, she mused when one of the nomads disappeared and was never heard of again, not even when centuries later another became immortal and took his place, when she and everyone else came to look for the new one to stop the dreams.

Immortality comes and goes, she learned when one day, she again dreamt of one who had already been immortal in the past.

She doesn't remember who was the first, but over time it got to all three of the lonely immortals, they each started to bleed, stopped healing- until the immortality came back, or they died during that mortal phase.

Once their immortality came back, they dreamt of the others until they met again, just like the first time.

It was always only one of the nomads- the three of them, then only two when another one died, and finally Andromache was all that was left- apart from that couple, which didn't seem to ever be afflicted by mortality at all.

What was it that made them so different? Why were they stronger together?

 _Maybe, we aren't meant to be alone,_ she-who-wasn't-yet Andromache mused to herself then, _but if so, I have already failed._

With this in mind, she started to avoid death as much as possible- already having been a great fighter at that point, it was not usually too hard- and she checked whether she still healed every night and every morning to avoid any surprise.

Thinking about it all only depressed her, so she tried not to linger on it all apart from that.

If she was to die for being alone... Well, one day, mortality was sure to come for her when she couldn't avoid a death.

Really, it was inevitable.

..but then a new immortal came into existence, into their dreams.

Deciding to test her theory, she went to look for the new one not only to get rid of the dreams but to see whether they could preserve their immortality together.

They didn't. At least, not at first.

Travelling with Aene was a new experience entirely.

Her companion was different to any mortals she had ever lived or travelled with, most notably the fact that they didn't die after a few years or decades. The two were able to really get to know one another, and while Andromache- Kania, then- was notably older than them, Aene still grew to be her equal after decades and then centuries spent by her side. 

They were quite different in nature: where Kania would search the company of mortals only when they needed her protection, were willing to trade or she wanted someone to share her bed, but Aene liked to hear everyone's stories and get to know each individual they met, even if they couldn't remember much about the people later, too many memories becoming mixed together as they grew older.

No matter their differences, they stuck together. Aene was grateful to have someone to show them the life in immortality and willing to test Kania's theory on the power of staying together stayed together, and while for Kania, Aene was nothing but a means to an end she had to endure at first, she too soon grew to appreciate the other's company. Kania was kind, friendly, good at making friends and avoiding conflict with any locals they ran into, but they were also a good student and soon an admirable fighter.

The two immortals never stayed apart for longer than days at a time. They were careful to always have a meeting point planned. It was almost impossible to find each other again otherwise in those times, unless they were willing to wait for a new immortal's dream sending them in the same direction, and there hadn't been anyone new since Aene's first death.

A few centuries later, Kania became mortal yet again.

She cursed herself for thinking that this time would be any different.

At least she had noticed her mortality through a nick in her finger this time, and as long as she made sure not to let the injury catch a disease, it would be easy to survive it until she got her immortality back. That was a lot better than losing it during battle had been, or when already otherwise injured.

Now that she knew that their togetherness didn't help against mortality, Kania thought about leaving her companion and going away on her own, but she dismissed the thought almost immediately. No, she hadn't gotten what she had wanted, but- she had gotten used to their presence. And, after all, it would still be helpful to have an immortal have her back while she was vulnerable herself.

The week after she had noticed her mortality, they got ambushed.

Soldiers, pirates, common thieves, Andromache doesn't remember it now. What she does remember is the knife in her chest after fending off most of the attackers.

The certain knowledge that she would die there and never get up again.

She had never believed in an afterlife until this very moment, especially not for them, who had cheated death so often already. But as she felt the blood drain from her body, she felt herself wish, hope beyond hope for something to wake up to. To not stop existing, _please_ , not yet.

Aene found her bleeding on the floor and alone, the attackers gone, maybe they had found what they had been looking for.

" _Kania!_ " she heard a cry, and then someone weeping.

Tears falling onto her body, onto her face, her chest, into the open gaping wound, mixing with her blood.

And slowly, Kania felt herself heal.

 _Just in time_ , she thought, feeling half insane with hope and terror, _just in time, please, let it be true._

"You- you are healed," Aene had said, and Kania had nodded.

"I have." She didn't know what else to say.

They cleaned their clothes, burned the bodies of the enemies.

Stumbling around their camp, Kania felt a deep tiredness creep into her mind and in her bones, and while she first ascribed it to the near-death experience, she soon couldn't ignore the truth any longer, scratching a nail over the back of her hand to see how the skin once again didn't immediately heal.

"I'm still not immortal." she told her companion, who froze. "Then- then how-"

"I don't know," Kania said truthfully, "But I think it has something to do with you."

Saying that she thought Aene's grief or their tears had healed her sounded so silly even just in her own head.

Still, the more she thought about it... The ones who were together certainly would cry for each other in such a situation. On the other hand, they never did become mortal in the first place. That she had never dreamt of them again proved that their immortality was steady, never wavering.

But for whatever reason, she was still alive, and deeply grateful. She would worry about it all in the morning, when she didn't feel half asleep.

When she woke up on the next day with sore muscles and an aching back from lying on the hard floor, Kania knew that she really was still or once again mortal- whatever it was that she had gotten from Aene clearly hadn't lasted very long.

Time for experiments.

Together, they tried to get her immortality back with Aene's tears again, on wounds and to drink, if they managed to make themselves cry enough, but also blood and spit, and once Kania talked her companion into cutting off a finger for her to eat whole. It did let any wounds she inflicted on herself heal for several days afterwards, longer than anything else had worked, but Aene still refused to see her eat a body part ever again.

Kania knew that the two other immortals had done a blood ceremony together, so she and Aene shared each other's blood, too, pressing open wounds on their palms together until both hands healed. It didn't bring back her immortality for longer than a few hours.

She also knew that the two others certainly exchanged various other bodily fluids in a number of ways, but she was not about to ask Aene for any of that when she knew that they didn't see her that way, perhaps didn't see anybody that way at all.

Still, with blood and tears, they managed to keep Kania near-invincible until her immortality returned properly a few months later, and she was glad not to be dependent on anyone that way anymore.

News reached them that the other two - whose names Andromache has long forgotten now - were close by, and she felt it was only right to let them know about their findings, about just how they had survived and stayed immortal all this time.

The two were glad to know what was happening, and Kania and Aene parted from them on good terms. Still, Kania had a bad feeling afterwards, although she couldn't quite articulate to Aene what it was that was making her uneasy.

Something about one of the two's smile, some glint in their eyes...

Kania had never spent much time in their company, so she couldn't be certain about it or guess their intentions, but she decided to stay in the area for a while and wait it out.

Soon enough, her bad feeling was proven right.

The two used their powers for evil- created an immortal army by letting them drink their blood, set on taking over the world, having every last mortal at their mercy.

After Kania had figured out that they could pass on their immortality to each other when one was mortal, it had only been the next step for them to try and pass it on to those who had never been immortal in the first place. They called their power the 'life's essence' that comes and goes- and saw it as their god given right to rule.

When Kania and Aene heard about this new religion that offers neverending life for obedience to the two 'gods', they were horrified.

Now several day's rides away from the city they had last seen them in, they nevertheless got onto their horses and planned to take them down.

Three days later, they had their first run-in with a gang of mortal-turned-immortal mercenaries. 

"How did they manage to make it this far without turning mortal again?" Aene hissed as they watched the group loudly boasting about their abilities on their campsite. "Do you think the others are here, too?"

Kania shook her head and silently pointed out the waterskins hanging from the mercs belts.

"It seems, it doesn't even have to be fresh."

"So how do we kill them?"

By nightfall, all of the not quite immortals had been driven onto stakes, constantly dying and unable to get away until their life's essence ran out.

By morning, there were only corpses on the field, and Kania and Aene burned the last of the blood and flesh of the real immortals before jumping back onto their horses and riding away.

After slashing their way through most of the mortal-turned-immortal army gathering around the city and getting closer to the original immortals, Aene and Kania inevitably attracted the two's attention.

In the midst of another battle, they were separated, and it was only afterwards that Kania noticed that Aene was gone.

The two had managed to make off with her companion and killed them the way they had killed their army. By the time Kania found them, it was too late: Aene was gone.

Of all times for it to happen, it had to be now that Aene first turned mortal at all, and it was what killed them. 

Kania was furious.

If she had been a force to be reckoned with before this, her grief and anger had given her a new kind of focus that made her unbeatable.

Ruthlessly, she threw herself into battle. Throats were slit without mercy, heads severed and stakes driven into bodies without a second thought. 

Before the end of the year- an awfully short time for immortals, really- she had both of the lovers staked and well-hidden in opposite places of the world, visiting them every year until the day they died and all she found were their rotting remains.

For Kania, it was the end of an era.

Until then, she hadn't had time to grieve as she had been busy fighting and then travelling between the two- even when, after staking the two for the first time, she had looked for Aene's body and buried what remained of it properly, she hadn't had time to linger for long before she travelled back to make sure the immortals were still bound and dying.

Once it was all over, she felt lost in her grief.

To get away from it al, Kania threw herself into the wars and battles of other people, barely even caring which side she stood on- perhaps ready to die herself, ready for the last of the immortals to be gone forever.

When she was hailed Andromache of Scythia after one of the greatest wars she helped to win, she decided to stick to the new-found identity, leaving all of her past life behind- including her name.

Once the last battle of the war was won and the clean-up almost over, she was left feeling worn out and done with fighting for the time being. What she had been looking for hadn't come to her: she was still alive, and only more distraught from seeing all that death instead of having found any kind of salvation.

As darkness fell, she took the battle-axe one of the now fallen warriors of this war had gifted to her, stole a horse and rode out of the ruins of the war-wrecked city.

_AQAQAQAQAQ Life's Essence AQAQAQAQAQ_

For centuries, Andromache was alone.

Almost a millennium, she was the only immortal that existed.

While, when she had been travelling with her companion, they had frequented settlements and been in contact with mortals quite frequently, more than had before she had met Aene. Sometimes they had stayed in one settlement for years, leaving them behind only when they had been needed elsewhere, or when their ageless bodies would become too noticeable. Sometimes they simply felt the call of the journey.

They had known, of course, that their mortal acquaintances would die. But it had been alright, as they still had each other, as well as the other immortals they came across from time to time.

Now, Andromache avoids people as much as in any way possible. What had been a blessing to her before she met and lost Aene- not having to care much about anyone's opinion as they would die anyways- now feels like a curse: human lifespans are so _short_ , and every face she looks at comes with the certainty that she will never see that person again after she leaves town. Even if their paths should cross again the mortal will have aged beyond recognition.

Before Aene, she had been glad to be alone and she had never known what she had been missing, but now the truth is all-too painfully obvious: There is no-one there to share her immortality with anymore. Not even the knowledge of other immortals in the distant parts of the world. No-one.

_AQAQAQAQAQ Life's Essence AQAQAQAQAQ_

More and more, Andromache isolates herself from the rest of the world.

She is still travelling, but now it is an aimless wandering, a running from the nightmares that haunt her. She avoids people and their growing settlements on her path- they have nothing to offer to her that she could possibly want.

She had lived for millennia without houses and hot baths and finely woven clothes- they were a luxury she hadn't even known for the longest part of her life. No, she didn't need anything from these modern people.

The only piece of civilisation she kept on her person and in good condition was her metal battle axe- perhaps not so new anymore after a few centuries, but to her it was still a piece of modernity.

Long ago, she had been used to fight with whatever had been there to use, which evolved into crude axes made with wood and stone. Then, for a while she had tried the many different blades humans came up with, and while with Aene, they had both worked with daggers and spears- weapons she can barely even look at, now. 

Her battle-axe feels like a piece of her, an extension of her arm, more than a tool but a beloved weapon. 

When, one day, it is not quite sharp enough anymore to do much more damage than a crude mallet, she seriously considers going to a mortal settlement to help, but as she thinks about the last time she had visited an armoury with Aene, how they had laughed with the smith's daughter, how every person in that memory is dead now except for herself- no, she doesn't need to meet any more people to mourn. So even then, she doesn't go to anyone to sharpen her labrys, instead learning how to do so herself by trial and error. She doesn't need any mortals in her life, not at all. 

Who she does let into her life from time to time are the animals.

At first it is out of convenience- a donkey to help her transport her food and weaponry over a mountain pass, a cat to catch the mice and rats that try to get into her storage when she settles in a lonely abandoned hut for little over a year.

A while later- years, centuries?- she comes across a horse that is strong and strong-willed, too, it takes a while to teach it to obey but once it does, they work well together.

It can't last, of course. Horses don't even live as long as mortals.

Except- it's not as if a horse could try to take over the world, now could it? So what would it hurt...

The mare stays alive for a little over two decade before it suddenly breaks down and dies. Andromache doesn't know whether it would be the same for humans- that they could only share the invincibility, not the actual prolonged life- and she doesn't care to find out.

A part of her is angry that, maybe, the entire immortal war and Aene's death had been for nothing, that the soldiers all would have died sooner or later.

Then again, would the knowledge that their once-mortal soldiers hadn't really become immortal have stopped the two? No, it probably wouldn't have. They might not have even told the poor humans, letting them fight and die in their war for superiority.

Giving her horse a proper fire-funeral, Andromache decided not to repeat any experiments like this in the future.

She would just have to get used to being alone.

She didn't remember whether she used to be the oldest, _before_ it all- it didn't matter. She was not only the eldest now, she was the _only_ one.

Until the dreams start again.

Fear seized her- has one of them gotten away? It can't have been Aene, she saw them die, saw their body rot... But then, she had seen the same happen to the two.

Her next thought was disbelief. Because she doesn't know this face, which means there is a _new_ one, after all this time.

She won't have to be alone anymore.

At this, she feels relief. Hope. 

Then- wariness, bordering on fear. What if this woman will be like the two who had ruined them all? While Andromache doesn't recognise her culture, she looks to be upper-class of some kind, and those who have servants are often those ready to exploit them.

She can't trust her, she can't get her hopes up.

Still, she needs to find her, if only to stop the dreams. No matter how pretty the new immortal looks, Andromache can't afford to keep waking with a shout whenever the other manages to get herself killed again.

It takes her another number of centuries to find the woman in her dreams.

Wherever she goes looking for something similar to the areas she visits in her dreams, the stranger has either already passed through or had never been there at all.

When, finally, Andromache catches up to her, it is not quite by chance but rather because the other had stopped moving.

Dead or once again dying in the heat of the desert, she doesn't even fight her when Andromache picks her up and carries her to safety.

Once the stranger wakes again and lets her nurse her back to health, Andromache learns that the woman's name is Quỳnh.

 _Quỳnh_.

She fights like a viper, she dances like white water rapids, fast and beautiful. She smiles brighter than the moon and Andromache can't look away.

Andromache learns Quỳnh's language quicker than Quỳnh picks up any of hers, maybe because Andromache has more practice in studying new languages, or maybe it is just because she stopped caring so much about getting the finer tunes of grammar and pronunciation of a new language eons ago. As long as she can make herself understood, she has reached her goal.

Once they are able to communicate in more than gestures and a few words, she learns about Quỳnh's home, about her journey through the world, looking for something, anything to help her make sense of this new infinite existence. She learns that Quỳnh had not believed Andromache was real until she had first touched her once she had regained consciousness again after the desert.

Just through spending time together, Andromache also learns that Quỳnh enjoys to sleep naked no matter how hot or cold it is, eat her meat cooked if in any way possible (and, given that starvation can't quite kill her, it is either possible or she doesn't eat it at all), and that she likes to be fashionable in whatever way is currently the popular style of the culture they are travelling through, even if it meant going through the trouble of trading for new clothes every few months or so.

In turn, Andromache tells her all about the world and how it changed in the past millennium or more, about her favourite places and which of them have long since been destroyed, about her love for animals and horses in particular, about her worst deaths and the easiest ways to travel light as an immortal, the best ways to blend in with a new culture.

The one thing she doesn't tell her immediately, not with what had happened with the others, is the condition of eternal immortality. How it can be lost, and how it can be passed on to others- for a while.

Even though she starts to trust Quỳnh, starts to see her as more than a companion of circumstance or an ally but as a close friend, maybe even hopes for something more in their future, she doesn't dare risk it.

If Quỳnh notices her reluctance, she doesn't push Andromache for more. 

While Andromache worries about what will happen if one of them becomes mortal, she decides to cross that bridge when they get to it. She could always slip some of her blood into Quỳnh's food, and when she herself would lose immortality, she could also collect and steal Quỳnh's blood from battles.

Except... would she really want to betray Quỳnh's trust like that? Because Quỳnh does trust her, she has earned that trust in these past decades, and such a betrayal could destroy all they have built with each other. It's bad enough that she hasn't told her the full truth yet... the thought of losing Quỳnh through deceiving her makes Andromache cringe. She has gotten way too used to always having someone by her side again. Not just anyone, too, but _her_.

She likes Quỳnh, maybe even more than she had liked Aene. 

Plus, she isn't sure how well using her blood would work when it isn't fresh, she had never tried that with her past companion. It seemed to have worked with the mortals, of course... 

Andromache shakes her head. It's all just excuses not to go through with it anyway, when she doesn't want to admit that she could never go behind Quỳnh's back like that.

She wonders whether she could store her own blood or whether it needs to be of someone currently immortal, and she would like to test that theory, but ultimately decides that it would be too risky to store her flesh and blood in her hideouts where mortals could stumble over it.

They might only stay immortal for as long as they have it, but there are already too many myths about blood-sucking 'Vampyres' around, she doesn't need to add to it and endanger them even more. The killings in the immortal war had been too public, too obvious with the staked dead bodies. So far, the legends are only that- legends, fairy-tales - but if people were to gain temporary immortality through someone else's flesh and blood and live to tell the tale...

No, she doesn't want to risk it.

Andromache does, however, fill a small waterskin with her blood and carry it on her person, just in case. It might not make anyone immortal for long, but it could bring her back from the dead when nothing else would.

Meanwhile, she and Quỳnh get to know each other more and more, they fight together, travel together, sleep back to back to protect each other from threats, showing that they trust each other enough to be vulnerable with each other in their sleep.

Quỳnh lets Andromache teach her to fight hand-to hand, in turn showing her to use bow and arrow to more easily catch them a meal.

One day, Andromache even lets her borrow her beloved labrys to practice with the weapon. As she watches Quỳnh swing it through the air into a tree, laughing in delight as it embeds itself in the wood, Andromache feels her heart beat quicker in her chest. She had tried not to think about the implications of letting Quỳnh borrow her weapon, but now she can't deny it to herself anymore: she feels for Quỳnh, loves her, even. Still, she can't bring herself to do anything about it, not with the secrets of her past still hanging in-between them.

So instead, she only calls out advice on how to get the axe free and move it with more force the next time.

It goes on like this until one day, Quỳnh wakes up with a pounding headache and a wild fear in her eyes as she notices this.

" _What is happening to me?_ " she asks, grasping her temples and reverting back to her first language instead of the local tongues, " _I haven't felt this since- since before! Andromache, what is happening to me??_ "

Andromache quickly leaves her own cot and kneels down in front of Quỳnh, sliding a knife out from under her makeshift pillow to cut open her wrist.

"Drink, then I will explain." she orders, holding her bleeding wrist to Quỳnh's lips.

Quỳnh looks at Andromache like she thinks that she has gone entirely insane, but trusts her enough to listen anyway, pressing her mouth to the bleeding wound and starting to suck.

As the wound closes under Quỳnh's lips, she licks off the last of the drops that had escaped, and she looks up, Andromache shudders. She thinks that it takes Quỳnh a moment to realise that the other woman is aroused, her pupils blown wide and dark- usually, she knows that Quỳnh would have jumped at the opportunity to make a move, to finally acknowledge the thing between them, but right now there are more important things to discuss.

"What's happening to me?" she asks, dropping Andromache's wrist to stop herself from clinging to her. "Why did you make me _drink your blood?_ Why did it fix this, how can my migraine be magically gone? How could I have even gotten a migraine? I had been prone to them when mortal, but..." she trails off, too afraid to hear what she suspects is the truth.

Andromache takes her hand reassuringly in her own, and then she tells her the truth- about everything that had happened, from her first guess about the power of staying together to the immortal army- and about her friend Aene, who had died.

Quỳnh listens intently through it all. She is shocked to hear that they do not truly live forever, and she also understands now why Andromache had been so careful around her, reserved almost at times- when one is betrayed like that by two of their own, and then loses someone so dear...

But she can't focus on that now.

"So we can die." Quỳnh stated quietly. "And I would have died now, if you had not saved me."

"I didn't save you from more than a headache," Andromache grumbles. "You would be mortal right now, yes, but you wouldn't have died unless something killed you."

Quỳnh nods, deep in thought.

"...and yet you immediately did save me? Even though I was not in any real danger. And with your own fresh blood, too, not the one you had stored away."

"You were panicking." Andromache explains, but Quỳnh sees a pink blush form on her cheeks, and she smiles.

"You were _worried_." 

After that, their friendship slowly moves into a different direction.

They do not immediately start anything intimate, instead slowly testing the waters with small, lingering touches, and they talk about what they like in a relationship- _a companion, touch, love_ , Quỳnh says, but not necessarily something monogamous, although "after being alone for so long, I wouldn't need the touch of anyone else, or anyone at all, if you would not want me to."

Andromache doesn't have much to contribute to that conversation herself- her longest physical relationship had been a matter of weeks, and the only one she ever let into her life for longer than that had not been interested in such things.

Quỳnh does make sure to get Andromache to talk, too, though, about her preferences in sex- she doesn't much care whether it is a man or a woman she sleeps with, and often only uses her own hand to bring herself relief. While she used to take many lovers during her first millennium on earth, she had not met up with any mortals that she could have slept with during her time alone, and while they often stayed with mortals after she met Quỳnh, Andromache still didn't often go looking for intimate company. When she did, she only got frustrated being with someone who wasn't Quỳnh. 

Mostly, though, what changes is that there are no more secrets between them. Once she has told her all about the immortality experiments, Andromache opens up more, really noticing how much she had avoided talking about before, especially everything about her time with Aene. 

In turn, Quỳnh tells her more stories about her childhood, about her culture- the things she had thought silly to talk about before, or had been scared that the much older Andromache would mock her young foolishness. Now, she knows that even Andromache had made mistakes and had been young once, and if they do tease each other about their past follies, it is good-natured and mutually so.

Once Quỳnh regains her immortality properly- Andromache breathes a deep sigh of relief at that- they start feeding each other their blood regularly, on purpose, to have the other's essence even if one would turn mortal again in the future.

Quỳnh's blood tastes better than expected. The usual metallic taste of blood that she knows from her own wounds and deaths in past battles is mixed with something uniquely in Quỳnh... She tries not to linger on these thoughts, not yet. What is important is that they are both willing to share their immortality with the other.

If they both lose it- so be it. But they will be together until the end.

"If we go, we go together," Quỳnh whispers one evening at the campfire, staring into the flames as she first notices the possibility of them both losing their immortality at the same time. Somehow, it is a reassuring thought, not a frightening one.

"Yes," Andromache nods, contently, and lies down with her head in Quỳnh's lap, basking in the heat of the flames. "Just you and me."

"Until the end." Quỳnh replies and bends down to press a fleeting kiss to Andromache's forehead. 

It means more to them than 'I love you' ever could.

It takes them another decade to first share a proper kiss, but once they do... nothing is holding them back from taking even more.

As Quỳnh finally has enough of their dancing around each other and pulls Andromache on top of herself instead of letting her set up her place to sleep next to her the way they usually do, Anh lets herself be dragged to her and crashes their mouths together in a heated kiss.

It's awkward, fumbling as they aren't used to each other's bodies yet, once Andromache scrapes Quỳnh's lip a little to hard for her liking, once Quỳnh's hair ends up in her mouth, making her spit it out with a snort and making Quỳnh laugh, but it doesn't matter. They are together, finally, in every sense of the word.

"Sleep with me tonight, Andromache?" Quỳnh asks once they have pulled apart long enough to speak again.

"Just to sleep?" Andromache asks with a raised eyebrow, making Quỳnh chuckle.

"Not if you don't want to..."

At that, Andromache reverses their position in one fluid motion, pulling Quỳnh on top of her to easier free her from her clothes. Quỳnh gasps and pulls off her tunic as quickly as possible, catching Andromache's hands and pressing them to her breasts. Andromache gasps, squeezing her breasts in her palms, and Quỳnh grins down at her. Oh, she will have a lot of fun with her woman.

Straddling Andromache's lab, she motions for her to pull off her clothes, too- Andromache laughs and wants to push her off to get rid of her clothes more easily, but Quỳnh holds her down. Andromache could have probably thrown her off if she had really wanted to, but instead, she whimpers and closes her eyes for a moment, before pulling her shirt off her head, trying not to tear it as it is pulled out from between her and the ground.

Quỳnh watches her with hungry eyes, and for the first time in her memory, Andromache feels _bashful_ under someone's gaze.

She knows she is good enough at sex to usually satisfy whoever she is sleeping with, and that she knows what she wants for herself and is able to communicate it, but the way Quỳnh is looking at her is making her suspect that that is not at all what Quỳnh wants from her right now.

Once her body is bare, she expects Quỳnh to touch her, but instead, she simply looks down at her, drinking in the sight of her naked form, and seriously wearing on Andromache's patience.

As she sits down on her abdomen, Quỳnh's own wetness presses against Andromache's skin, and she gasps at the contact, but still lets Quỳnh set their pace. It is nice to know she isn't entirely unaffected, at least.

"Anh," Quỳnh finally murmurs when she has looked her fill, stroking a hand over Andromache's side, "You are a work of art."

Andromache flushes deep red, and Quỳnh quirks eyebrow at her, smiling at her in delight:

"Don't you know what you look like, Andromache?" she asks, teasingly, and underlining her words with teasing touches of her fingertips over Andromache's breasts. 

Andromache doesn't usually care for such soft touches. They make her feel on edge, weak and unsatisfied, but with Quỳnh, it feels as if she is being worshipped, as if Quỳnh understands every inch of her...

Even so, she still can't wait for her to touch her properly, to ease the throbbing ache between her legs.

As if reading her thoughts, Quỳnh moves back to kneel between her legs and slips a finger into her mound, and Andromache arches her hips into the touch, making Quỳnh grin in delight. 

Andromache's first instinct is to stop her own reaction, but Quỳnh looks so happy seeing her respond to her, and Andromache knows she won't be using it against her except in the best way. Plus, there should be no secrets between them, not even when it comes to sex... so she lets herself press against Quỳnh's exploring hands, lets a moan spill from her lips when Quỳnh's insistent fingers finds her clit, lets go of her lip when she automatically bites it to silent a scream.

Quỳnh teases her, rubs over her inner walls, then again only her outer lips, spreading around her wetness everywhere as if to test where Andromache reacts most. When she reaches her clit again, Andromache's hips lift off the ground to meet her, and Quỳnh starts to circle around it, rub it between forefinger and thumb and finally, finally brush over it directly, making Andromache see stars.

When Quỳnh notices just how much Andromache is enjoying this particular touch, she keeps going, flicking her thumb over the little hard nub back and forth while entering her again with two fingers, pressing them up against her thumb...

Andromache doesn't last long. She usually prides herself in having stamina both in bed and in battle, but Quỳnh, while new to her body in particular, has had centuries to learn how to please a woman- and maybe the fact alone that it her who touches her so expertly helps in pushing Andromache over the edge.

As she comes down from her high, Andromache's chest is heaving, her head falling back and she looks up at the sky trying to comprehend what just happened, how after so many years of dancing around each other she finally has this wonderful woman in her bed, making her climax.

"Have I worn you out, my love?" Quỳnh asks, amused. "I suppose you won't be able to repay the favour tonight, then..."

Andromache growls and pulls Quỳnh up to sit on her face so she can show her just how well she can _repay the favour_.

Quỳnh lets herself be moved without resistance and laughs in delight at Andromache's eagerness, which turns into a moan when Andy starts to lick into her.

" _Aah_ , yes- right there, inside- inside, Anh, please- yes, _yes!_ "

Her orders and encouragements make Andromache pull her tighter onto her face, not even worried that Quỳnh might break her neck if she keeps pressing against her so strongly. After all, she would survive. Listening to Quỳnh's wish, she starts to fuck inside her, first with her tongue, trying to reach as far inside as she can, then replacing her tongue with her fingers as Quỳnh keeps gasping for more.

Quỳnh scoots back, abandoning Andromache's lips in favour of her getting a better angle to fuck her, then meets her every thrust, setting in a punishing pace. When she is close, contracting around Andromache's fingers, she gasps out a " _Keep going!_ " between moans, and Andromache keeps fucking into her even as Quỳnh's thighs shake and she can't keep her rhythm any longer. Throwing back her head, Quỳnh shouts in her climax, soaking Andromache's hand in her come, and Andromache thinks that she has never seen anything as beautiful as this woman on top of her right now.

When Quỳnh stops shaking, Andromache slowly pulls her fingers free, making her shudder anew. Andromache grins and strokes through her folds. "Think you can come again?"

"You know we- _ah!_ \- can come again quicker than mortals, Andromache- _ee!_ " The last syllable of her lover's name turns into a long whine as Andromache presses inside her again. Quỳnh catches her hand in hers, positioning three of her fingers the way she likes it best and sinking down onto them properly, not even letting Andromache move as she fucks herself on her hand, slower this time, her eyes blinking open and meeting Andromache's. They stare at each other, transfixed as Quỳnh once again comes close to her orgasm, this time trying not to throw back her head and instead keep looking at Andromache-

Quỳnh's inner walls flutter around her fingers, her body shudders as her climax runs through her in waves, not as violent as the first time she came but no less powerful.

With visible effort, she sits up and lets Andromache slip out of her, Quỳnh then collapses forward onto her chest. Andromache wraps her up in her arms and presses a kiss to her hair.

"You are wonderful in bed," Quỳnh sighs, contently, as she snuggles closer.

"I- you too." Andromache replies. "And quite- pretty. Beautiful, I mean."

Quỳnh snorts. "You are horrible at both giving and receiving compliments, my Andromache! But don't worry, I will teach you." 

Andromache snorts, too, then remembers their earlier conversation, how Quỳnh had called her too weak to repay the favor.

"Now, will you call us even?" she asks with a sly smile.

"Hmm?" Quỳnh blinks before remembering their previous conversation. She has to laugh. "Oh, you know I only said that to make you get a move on!"

Andromache has to laugh, too. "Baiting me like that! Really?"

She can't be mad for getting tricked into that. Making love to Quỳnh, fucking and tasting her, is never going to be a hardship for her, she is sure of it.

_AQAQAQAQAQ Life's Essence AQAQAQAQAQ_

A few centuries later, a new immortal crosses their path, and he only stays with them for about the same duration.

While he quickly figures out what they are doing, Lykon always refuses to share their blood, or anything else.

"If it is my time to go, I will simply accept it," he tells them with an ever-present smile on his face.

As he is a nice, trustworthy person and a well-liked companion, the women are not happy about his choice, but they are not about to force their own immortality on him, either. Every day, they simply hope for the best, and one time, mortality comes for Lykon and passes again before he can age too much or gather significant scars- the next time, he is not so lucky, and his immortality leaves him in the middle of a battlefield.

Quỳnh and Andromache bury his body carefully and according to the rules of his people. Andromache doesn't believe in any gods, but Lykon did, and on the off-chance that he had it right, she doesn't want to be the one to stop him from reaching his happily ever after.

Mostly, she doesn't want to refuse to comply to his wishes, not even in death.

For ages, millennia from then on, it is only the two of them.

Their immortality never wavers. If either one of them would have ever lost it, they are never apart enough long enough for it to happen.

They never lose their immortality at the same time.

_AQAQAQAQAQ Life's Essence AQAQAQAQAQ_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it, [theres-a-tv-joe](https://theres-a-tv-joe.tumblr.com/)! Lmk what your ao3 handle is and I'll gift it to you properly on here too.
> 
> I know my prologue got a bit long xD But I like how this story shows that Andy isn't just with Quynh bc they both happen to be immortal? That there were others before her, and she chose to stay alone then.
> 
> I had to cut this in half to upload it on time, but there will be more in the Vampire-verse!  
> If someone wants to know when I upload more, just tell me in a comment! And in general pls also comment, that makes me vry happy :)


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